The Dunes and Chicagoland, After All These Years

A westbound South Shore train at Mineral Springs Road in early July 2018. This location--which formerly was the location of the Dune Acres flag stop--is the inspiration for my Dunes Junction HO shelf layout. 

I tagged along on a Chicago business trip with my wife, Rachel, in early July and visited the South

Shore railroad in the Indiana Dunes, as well as Chesterton, a well-documented hot spot with plenty of CSX, NS, CN and Amtrak action. During my visit to the Dunes area, I was able to complete a long-overdue task for my Dunes Junction layout: I finally got some photographs of Mineral Springs Road to use on the Dunes Junction backdrop.

Looking north toward Lake Michigan
on Mineral Spring Road. This photo will be used to fill that pesky gap in the existing Dunes Junction backdrop.
Look for a post on filling the gap
 in the near future.

Mineral Springs Road on the Dunes
Junction layout. Currently looks like
it ends at a cliff overlooking Lake
Michigan, which has bothered me for
years. 

My wife's business trip venue was up near O'Hare in the Northwest Suburbs, so I also explored some new railfanning territory on the BNSF/Metra 'Racetrack'. I got to the Belmont Station well past rush hour and prime lighting, but managed to squeeze off a few photos of Metra commuter trains and a freight. In all the years I lived near Chicago, I had never actually rail fanned this area, and my hour or
so trackside at Belmont was exciting and rewarding.

A mid-afternoon eastbound South Shore train outside of Ogden Dunes. The lattice catenary bridges featured on Dunes Junction have been replaced with new I-beam bridges. Also, Island Model Works is offering a 3D-printed N scale shell for these cars, should fit right on a Kato RDC...

Where steeple cabs, 700s, and 800s once roamed: an eastbound South Shore Freight engine move at Mineral Springs Road. A wood flag stop shelter stood where those instrument sheds are now when this was Dune Acres 

Freights like these come fast and furious through Chesterton. Railfan photography was actually banned here for a time due to several near misses. I took care to give the trains and the police a wide berth.

Chesterton station, now home to a museum, as a NS coil train rumbles past.

Westbound Metra train at Belmont. Even during non-rush hours, an hour or so will yield four or five trains.

Eastbound freight at Belmont. The sun was already too high for my taste by 11 AM or so, but that blue sky made up the difference.